Join the Nerds for their 100th and final episode as they prepare to be replaced by AI versions of themselves. Did an AI write this blurb? Are we heading for a Bot Girl Summer? In our 100th episode the nerds face the inevitable and spill the ChatGPT about our new robot overlords. Thanks for listening! Host: Erin Harrington Moderator: Brendon Bennetts Panel: Moata Tamaira, Ben Allan, Karen Healey, and James Kupa
Somehow Andrew Todd returns to host our fifth Star Wars spectacular. Expect detailed discussion of all the lore on Andor and/or Mandalore. Panel: Moata Tamaira and Jeff Clark vs Ben Kent and Centuri Chan with James Kupa as moderator
In a cross-over with our sister show 'Dungeons & Comedians', Dungeon/Quiz Master Brendon Bennetts delves greedily and deeply into all things related to both dungeons and dragons. Panel: James Kupa, Tilly Walbom, Ben Kent, Ben Allan Mod: Karen Healey
Nerds gotta eat, right? Grab your games night gang and come on down to the 24-hour nerd diner for a tasty all-you-can-eat* night of foodie facts. Yummy. *Within reason, Homer. Host: Erin Harrington Panel: Karen Healey, Daniel Pengelly, Brendon Bennetts, Andrew Todd
Arachnophiles rejoice as your favourite nerds weave a web of intrigue around pop-culture creepy crawlies big and small. Expect an amazing, spectacular saga that will leave your spider-sense tingling! Host: Jeff Clark Panelists: Moata Tamaira and Andrew Todd vs James Kupa and Ray Shipley
You Only Nerd Twice Pay close attention, because this message will self-destruct. In a high-stakes game of wit and wiles, our well-disguised nerds will be tested on spycraft, subterfuge and surveillance. Who will get smart, who will be spooked, and who will find their mission... unpossible? Host: Erin Harrington Panelists: Kathleen Burns and James Kupa vs Brendon Bennetts and Karen Healey With Jeff Clark from Q Branch
Who says nerds can't be sexy? The Nerd Degree is getting lubed up for one night in Little Andromeda, and you're invited to watch. Taboos will be busted, horizons will be expanded, and the moderator will do their best to comply with Apple’s podcast content guidelines, as the esoteric meets the erotic for the first and possibly last time. Host: Andrew Todd Moata Tamaira and Karen Healey vs Erin Harrington and Daniel Pengelly Scorekeeper: Brendon Bennetts
Hosted by Ben Allan, with Jeff Clark, Brendon Bennetts, Laura Borrowdale, Andrew Todd, and Kathleen Burns. The oceans! Vast and deep and unfathomable, but also literally fathomable. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the theatre, the nerds are back and putting to sea to set sail for the far off shores of Esoterica, tackling cursed voyages, wild weather and the weird and horrifying denizens of the benthic depths along the way.
We solve the mystery of who is the biggest nerd. Host: Brendon Bennetts, Mod: Andrew Todd Teams: Erin Harrington and Moata Tamaira vs James Kupa and Andrew Kepple Watch Andrew's video here: https://youtu.be/NLugcNHnEto
It's Mock-mock-mocktober! Who can say what is real, and what's a load of nerdy bollocks? Join the nerds (but are they really?) in quest for absolute truth as they fight fakes and frauds with bluffs and bluster. Host: Erin Harrington Scorekeeper: Jeff Clark Featuring: Ray Shipley, Kathleen Burns, Brendon Bennetts, and Andrew Todd
Christchurch's favourite long-running currently dormant pop-culture panel show format podcast-live-show is making a comeback! Having dusted off his cobwebby hosting beard, Ben Allan is once again on a mission to discover who is the wittiest nerd and the nerdiest wit, putting two teams of some of the city's sharpest minds - or at least the sharpest ones that were readily available - to the test in a battle of knowledge and nonsense. Featuring: Moata Tamaira, Jeff Clark, Brendon Bennetts, Andrew T...
In the lead up to Rise of Skywalker (so, no spoilers here) the nerds get together for another deep dive into all things Star Wars-y. Hosted by Ben Allan, with Moata Tamaira, Scott Koorey, Jeff Clark, Centuri Chan, and Brendon Bennetts Recorded live at Little Andromeda
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, much like an episode of The Nerd Degree. In this episode, the nerds will fight over incendiary facts, detonate truth bombs about niche interests, and present homework so volatile it will need its own fume cupboard. Featuring: Karen Healey, Andrew Kepple, Ray Shipley, Brendon Bennetts, Moata Tamaira, and Erin Harrington
Exactly 40 years ago, Alien burst out of a rubber egg and into our collective hearts/chest cavities. To celebrate this pop culture milestone the nerds do a deep dive into all things Alien from original fan fiction, to unexpected conspiracy theories and obscure behind the scenes trivia. Hosted by Erin Harrington Featuring: Andrew Todd, Moata Tamaira, Scott Koorey, Ben Allan, and Jeff Clark
Women. Non-men. We make up 51% of the population, and finally get an episode all to ourselves! It's 2019 after all. Join us as the nerds celebrate all of women's amazing historical and cultural achievements since the dawn of time til now, including all the stuff MEN DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT, by talking very very fast, which we're very good at doing, apparently. Featuring Karen Healey, Erin Harrington, Moata Tamaira, Emma Cusdin, and 2019 Billy T Award nominee Ray Shipley
Nerd Degree Champions from episodes past go head to head to find the champion of champions. Featuring: Brendon Bennetts, Dan Bain. Emma Cusdin, Andrew Kepple, Jeff Clark, Erin Harrington, and Laura Borrowdale
The nerds celebrate (or commiserate) the end of the year with a look and endings and end times. Will the nerds get their happily ever after? Will it be the end of the nerd as we know it? And - most importantly - will there be a post-credits scene that sets up the next series? Hosted by Dr. Erin Harrington. Featuring: Moata Tamaira and Ray Shipley vs Jeff Clark and Shen Mansell
It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dork… In NERD DEGREE: MONSTER MASH the nerds go on an undead excursion to the garden of ghoulish delights. They’ll be (grave)digging monstrous facts, tearing the guts out of much-loved horror classics, and seeing who lasts til dawn, all in the hope of taking home the greatest prize of all: their lives. Or maybe just their pride. Definitely one of them. Hosted by Dr Erin Harrington, who did her PhD on women in horror films, because that’s...
The Nerd Degree returns to WORD Christchurch to help end the festival with a laugh. Taking up the theme of adventure, comedian Brendon Bennetts invites four brave writers, Karen Healey, Erin Harrington, Nic Low and Jolisa Gracewood to test their wits and journey into a world of obscure facts and esoteric arguments in a quest to find the nerdiest wit and the wittiest nerd.
Join the nerds as they explore the world of nomenclature and all things name-related. They’ll be getting a handle on their handles, sorting their sobriquets from their pseudonyms, and probably getting their monikers in a twist. Hosted by Moata Tamaira Moderator: Jeff Clark Featuring: Erin Harrington & Karen Healey vs Todd Dixon & Brendon Bennetts
Age of Nerdquarius Hey, like, what’s happening man? Don’t bogart that mint condition Batgirl #1. It’s fifty years on from the rise of the counterculture, so the nerds are gonna smear on some patchouli, chuck on some Ravi Shankar, and take you on the ultimate trip down the pop culture rabbit hole. Groovy. Host: Erin Harrington, Moderator: Andrew Kepple Panel: Shen Mansell and Liv Mckenzie vs Moata Tamaira and Ray Shipley
Can you smell what the Nerd Degree is cooking? Lace up your boots, ready your gimmicks, and grab your tag-team partner - it's time for us to lay the smackdown. Join us ringside and find out: what's the difference between a swanton bomb and a senton bomb? What do neon lightbulbs, folding chairs, and sledgehammers have in common? And just how backyard can backyard wrestling get? Only one team will walk away with the gold. Hosted by Jennifer O'Sullivan Featuring: Jeff Clark and Moata Tamaira vs Kar...
Fee-fi-fo-fum, the time for nerds to cook has come! Since humans first realised that putting stuff on a fire made it taste better, we've tried to make food our mouths enjoy. Join our nerds on a culinary adventure as they explore the often delicious and occasionally terrifying world of cooking. Hosted by Brendon Bennetts and Karen Healey Featuring: Dan Bain and Laura Borrowdale vs Erin Harrington and Emma Cusdin
Put down your fidget spinners, hunt out your stirruped Adidas trackies and fire up the fondue pot – in this episode the nerds will be grappling with trends, crazes and fads. Why is the 80s so hot right now? What’s with those cold shoulder shirts? Is finesse a good or a bad thing? We honestly don’t know, but we can say that nerds are always in style!* *Nerds may not always be in style – capitalise while you can. Hosted by Erin Harrington and Moata Tamaira Featuring: Brendon Bennetts and Liv Mcken...
Take off your glasses and roll up your sleeves as the nerds are faced with any nerd's worst nightmare: fights. From gunfights to bunfights and barroom brawls to Dragon uppercuts (Hadouken!), it's gonna be a bareknuckled-knockdown-drag-out-no-holds-barred slapfest, and the only rule is no eye gouging (this goes for you too, audience). No quarter will be given until we prove that contrary to what you may have heard, violence in fact solves everything. So angry up your blood and hit a piece of cele...
Christchurch 2017 Pun Battle Champion Jeff Clark (no withering comments, he already got a trophy) hosts a punderful show dealing with all things game: video games, board games, throne… games. Featuring: Javier Jarquin, Karen Healey, Brendon Bennetts, Moata Tamaira, and Trubie-Dylan Smith NOTE: We are changing back to once a month for episodes (but they will be longer)
The New Adventures of the Nerd Degree we ring in the nerdly year with a highly novel celebration of the new and the new-ish. We’ll be pitting original series and much-loved canon against new generations and reboots, to ask: is there really such as a thing as a new idea? Hosted by Erin Harrington Featuring: Andrew Kepple and Matt Powell vs Jen O'Sullivan and Javier Jarquin
Nerd Degree: New! Yeah! Brendon Bennetts hosts 2017 In Review, in which our Nerds take a look back over the last year to investigate the highs, the lows, and the general weirdness that was 2017. Featuring: Javier Jarquin and Centuri Chan vs Jennifer O'Sullivan and Matt Powell
Holodeck the Halls. It is the Nerd Degree Christmas special! Things get very nerdy, and very christmasy. Hosted by Brendon Bennetts Featuring: Erin Harrington and Moata Tamaira vs Karen Healey and Jeff Clark
Our Third Annual Star Wars Special! Recorded just a few hours before we all went to the midnight screening of The Last Jedi. Hosted by Brendon Bennetts Featuring: Andrew Kepple, Moata Tamaira, Centuri Chan, and Ben Allan
